The Class of 2020

Lauren Curcio, Verrazzano Class of 2024, completed major in Psychology and minor Cinema Production

This project was the first big documentary I ever directed and produced. It was definitely tough, but I made it work. I was able rent equipment from Media Culture for two weeks in early June. I reached out to my friends who I graduated high school with in 2020, and they agreed to being interviewed. I was able to get four people, which was enough to fit in my timeframe.

The interviews were scheduled during the summer since everyone was off from school. Everyone had work but luckily, it worked out with three of my friends. The fourth person I was able to film at a later time.

When conducting the interviews, I wanted to make them feel more comfortable by conducting them in their own personal spaces. I wanted the interviewees to not only answer the questions, but show something that was a part of them. For example, Rosa gave a room tour since she moved into her new house and had her own room for the first time during Covid. Joe shared his retro collection, Iris showed her computer and desk, and Gianna showed her new desk and bookshelf. Each space demonstrated something about the person. I wanted the viewers to not only hear their stories, but see and get to know the people themselves. Each subject did a great job with their interviews. They went into such great depth with each response, while also showing what best represents them.

After shooting, the editing process took a while. Even though the project was almost twenty-two minutes long, the editing process could take days, even weeks. I took it one step at a time and spoke with my supervisor. I showed her parts of the project I edited and she shared her thoughts. I had to reshoot some parts and also add new clips.

I ended up shooting scenery at different schools and towns early on a Sunday morning. It was great because everywhere was practically a ghost town. I was able to film without worrying about pedestrians. I enjoyed working on this project and will continue to work on projects like this post-graduation.

Capstone + Covid + Fried Computer = Stress!

Ashley Roberts, Class year of 2022, completed major in English Linguistics and minor in Speech Language Pathology

At first the idea of the capstone project seemed incredibly intimidating. I didn’t know how to begin, what I wanted to do, or who to ask to be my mentor. Thankfully, I had Professor Hagedorn as my major advisor and she was involved in research related to the field of speech pathology, which is the field that I am pursuing a career in. Through speaking with her things naturally developed, and she agreed to be my mentor. She invited me to work with her on her research with patients who suffered from lingual cancer and had intelligibility difficulties. Things began much smoother than I had anticipated, then Covid happened and everything became a lot more complicated and difficult. I was no longer able to do any hands-on research collecting data as everything became virtual and remote. This was a bit disappointing, as I had been excited to be immersed in the research, but I understood how important and necessary it was to keep everyone safe. Ultimately, it didn’t prevent me from working on my capstone because there was already enough collected data from the patients for me to analyze. After some adjustments, taking short courses to become certified working with research data, and coordinating with Professor Hagedorn, everything was ready for me to begin researching and analyzing the data at the start of my senior year.

That was true until my brand-new laptop ran an update the night before the semester began that literally fried the laptop’s motherboard. This was during the semester that everything was being done virtually, where having access to a computer to do anything college related was vital. What ensued from one small update was what seemed like an unending stream of frustration and delays for all of my course work and capstone research. It took over 2 and a half months to get my computer fixed and functioning correctly. Thankfully I had an old laptop that allowed me by to do my class assignments and watch lectures; however, it wasn’t functional enough to run the advanced programs needed to analyze the data for my capstone. I was forced to put my capstone project on hold for about half of that semester.

Since I was also taking 23 credits, I had to focus on catching up on my backed-up class assignments before I could do any research. I managed to work out with my mentor that I would only focus my literary research and the literary review part of the research paper for the capstone proposal that semester. Things went slowly, because I was still struggling to catch up and I was still working on a computer that barely functioned. I ended up having to use that old laptop the entire semester because the new laptop kept deleting all the files that I was saving to it (which only delayed me further). Thankfully, Professor Hagedorn and Cheryl were more than understanding and patient with me as I did my best to meet the requirements.

In my final semester I finally had my new laptop functioning, and although I was still running into some technical difficulties I was able to successfully complete my research and data analysis. As one might imagine, it was both difficult and stressful to cram all of that into my final semester. However, with hard work and perseverance, and a lot of help and consideration from both Cheryl and my mentor, I was able to write the longest and most in-depth paper I have ever written (over 40 pages)!

Several times I wanted to give up. I cried a lot, and didn’t sleep much towards the end, but I can say without hesitation I am happy I did it. I learned so much from this experience, not only in my field of study but also about time and stress management, problem-solving, learning when to ask for help, and so much more. I learned I could do more than I ever knew I could! Even though it was an incredible challenge and I had to overcome setback after setback, it only strengthened my passion for speech pathology and allowed me to become even more prepared for graduate school.

 I am grateful for this opportunity and for everyone who helped me along the way, without them I could never have done it. I am fully equipped to tackle whatever comes next!

Effects of Online Learning for Students During COVID

 Madison Baialardo, Verrazzano Class of 2022, completed major in Mathematics and minor in Education

Becoming an educator is something I have dreamed of since I was in grade school. Due to the pandemic being an educator has become a challenging job. With students learning remotely it has been very hard for teachers to keep them engaged. As a future educator, I  can only imagine how hard it has been to keep students focused while they are at home.

There are pros and cons to remote learning that are different for each age group. Remote learning may be more of a challenge for elementary school students, but older students  may find the flexibility, time management, recording, technology, and money are all a huge part  of online learning.

I’m a very outgoing person and I did not realize that some students like online learning better. Some students do not like to interact and do group work, therefore being remote is a positive lens for these students. However, being remote is also hurting the mentality of students. Depression has increased among students since remote learning has begun.

As a college student, I felt that the flexibility, time management, and money saving aspect were  huge assets to online learning. Being remote allowed me to study longer and work more. I did not have to drive to campus, which saved time. I also managed my time better with assignments and saved money by not needing to pay for parking or gas. These pros were very helpful to many college students all across the country.

Although I feel that remote learning was a huge advantage for myself, I now realize that other students struggled. I was also able  to observe classes online so I was able to see the teacher's perspective as well. I can see many blank screens and the same students participating which I feel hurts the class. I asked the teacher what she thought of the blank screens and she replied, “I have no idea if they are paying attention. But I will continue to try to pull everyone in.”